Life Matters - October 29, 2025

I hate Halloween. If it were actually a hallowed evening I would love it. Because I love life. If I know myself, I don’t love the life that Jesus told us to hate—the self-life—but I love the Life of God, His creation, and His wonderful works among, and for, the children of men. 

One of those wonderful life-giving works of God is the bountiful harvest we are again experiencing here on the South Dakota Great Plains. The harvest is receding in the rear-view mirror as we fast approach the cold of winter months. Small grains were over by late summer—silage done in the early fall days—by now the soybeans are in, and the last of the corn is being harvested for the silver bins spread across the landscape, flat-storage hoop buildings, or outdoor sharply coned piles. Some allow those piles (at the local grain Elevators) to form a watertight crust on top, others cover them with humongous, rounded and cone-shaped, tarps. Piles are for when the bins are full…so you get the picture—the harvest indeed is plentiful.  

A lot of foresight and labor has gone into this bounty. Planning, weighing seed and fertilizer options, decisions made, orders put in, planting equipment readied, new options considered, bought, or decisions made not to buy, soil temperature below and skies above watched closely, and then one day…operators mount tractors, equipment is rolled out, the field soil is worked into soft seed-ready condition.  

Next the planting equipment with its operators put all that winter planning into action, dropping those millions of seeds into the prepared soil with incredible accuracy and in some cases with GPS straightness. 

For many, gone are the days of aiming that first row toward yonder tree, fencepost, or some other conspicuous landmark. The story is told of a farmer instructing his new hired boy on how to get that first plow furrow straight by choosing an object at the far end of the field then keeping an eye fixated on that object while heading straight for it. 

At noon the farmer came to fetch his hired hand for the noon meal and to check on progress, only to find that, while his new employee had certainly made progress, the progress left so much to be desired that it left the good farmer scratching his head. 

‘’How,” said the incredulous farmer, “did you get such a curve into this plowed section of field? Did you forget what I told you? You were supposed to keep an eye fixed on a chosen object at the far end of the field.”

‘’Oh, but I did!’ exclaimed the hired hand, “Do you see that black and white cow in yonder pasture?”… 

My dad must have chosen stationary objects, because his straight field rows even drew complimentary remarks from straight-laced neighbors for whom complimenting a stoic German, with their own version of stoicism was rather uncommon. Dat’s early 19th century equipment was guided by steady hands, sharp eyes and experience, before GPS had even made its fantastical debut in Star Wars films. 

But back to earth. When God blesses the earth with gentle rains and warms it with the sun, then the conditions become right for those millions of seeds to do something we call germinate. A miracle called life awakens from its mysterious repose. Centered in the seed, life begins to grow. The hull, the shell of the seed, softened by outward moisture and pressured by the growing life inside it, slowly cracks, slowly but surely opens up, allowing the greening life inside to gently burst outside of its shell and to grow upward through the soil.  

Upward, always upward, as if it has an innate knowledge that it needs sunlight, an innate knowledge that in growing upward it is reaching for the warming rays of the sun. Energy being attracted to, and drawn toward, energy. Life being drawn to life.  

‘’Except a corn (kernel) of wheat fall into the ground and die’’ Jesus said, “it abideth alone, but and if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit…”(John 12:24) Every part of the seed dies except that beautiful something inside it called life. And as the seed dies that life is set free. Free from the shackles that kept it contained in its little shell. Free to grow into sunlight, ever reaching for it. Drinking in the rain from above. Being nourished from the earth through which its roots spread out and search ever deeper for the nourishment of life.  

As Jesus pointed out many times, there are lessons to be learned in the cycles of life and in every season. One lesson He pointed out about seeds is that when that seed dies it is like our self-life, dead, and when it dies we should expect nothing good from that dead part. But in its very death the miracle of life is made possible. Possible because God puts life in the seed. When we come to Jesus as we are He takes us from there to see ourselves and offers life and growth to the dead.  When we repent (die) He puts Life in the seed.  

We should not, therefore, honor what is dead because of sin, but we should honor God’s miracle of Life. We should not celebrate death, brought to earth by the devil, we should celebrate eternal life, brought to earth by Jesus Christ, our Savior, Redeemer, our Way, our Truth, and our Life.  

The devil wants only to lie, kill, and to destroy. It is all he can do. (John 8:42) 

And that is why I hate Halloween. I find it ironic, indeed devilish, that its day falls into the time of harvest, a time of rejoicing in the goodness of God, a time of celebrating the fruitfulness of life.

A harvest celebration of Life to all!

Life Matters!